POPE LEO XIII’s PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH AFTER THE ROSARY

“Sagrada Familia del pajarito” or “The Holy Family with a Bird,” depicting St. Joseph holding Jesus with the Blessed Mother to the side, was painted in circa 1650 by Spanish baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

As we celebrate this Year of St. Joseph (Dec. 8, 2020 – Dec. 8, 2021), let us add this beautiful prayer to our daily rosary. Cecilia and I pray the rosary LIVE every weekday at 6 am CT, 7 am CT on the weekends, and the meditations are different every day. You can find us on YouTube (www.youtube.com/c/kittycleveland) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/kittycleveland/channel). We’d love to have you join us!

POPE LEO XIII’s PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH AFTER THE ROSARY

To you, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction. And having implored the help of your thrice-holy Spouse, we now, with hearts filled with confidence, earnestly beg you to take us also under your protection.

By that charity with which you were united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which you cherished the Child Jesus, we beseech you and we humbly pray that you will look down graciously upon that inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by His Blood, and will help us in our need by your power and strength.

Defend, O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen off-spring of Jesus Christ. Keep from us, O most loving Father, all blight of error and corruption. Aid us from on high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powers of darkness. As you once rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Shield us ever under your patronage, that, following your example and strengthened by your help, we may live a holy life, die a happy death, and attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen.

History: This prayer to Saint Joseph—spouse of the Virgin Mary, foster father of Jesus, and patron saint of the universal Church—was composed by Pope Leo XIII in his 1889 encyclical, Quamquam Pluries. This is the pope who also composed the St. Michael prayer. He asked that this prayer to St. Joseph be added to the end of the Rosary, especially during the month of October, which is dedicated to the Rosary. The prayer is enriched with a partial indulgence (Handbook of Indulgences, conc. 19), and may be said after the customary Salve Regina and concluding prayer. It may also be used to conclude other Marian devotions.